The Cost of War, the Price of Peace
by HawksFan12
Summary: The leaders of all nations on Earth grow weary of waiting for the Autobots to defeat the Decepticons on Earth, as the body count and property damage from the robot's war reaches alarming heights. The fate of the Earth itself hangs in the balance. Based on G1 cartoon characters. Entertainment only, I own nothing, all credit to Hasbro, Marvel.


When a general in the U.S. Army is summoned to the White House from the Pentagon, by the president himself, questions are best saved for later. The general pondered the possibilities as his driver whisked him the short distance from the Pentagon to the White House. Soon, the nondescript Ford sedan arrived, and after a short inspection by the Marine guards, was waved past security. Before he knew it, the general found himself in a top secret briefing with other high-ranking members of all branches of the military. The secretary of defense was there, and of course, the president.

Over the next few hours, the reason for the meeting became clear. The United Nations, alarmed at the constant crises resulting from the Autobot-Decepticon war on Earth, had finally decided to act. It had become crystal clear to every nation, every leader on Earth, that the Decepticons would eventually destroy the planet in their quest for power. The Autobots do a fine job of chasing away the Decepticons, but there is never a decisive victory. The enemy always lived on to fight another day. Meanwhile, human casualties continued to climb.

The secretary of defense reminded all of the gathered generals and admirals of the costs of the robot's war thus far. Megatron had, on many occasions, caused great death, destruction of life and property, attempted to enslave humanity, and even attempted to bring Cybertron into the orbit of the Earth. The destruction of our planet was meant to provide the energy for the Decepticons to revive their own planet. When the Decepticons had tricked our legal system into banning the Autobots from Earth, the Decepticons then caused thousands of deaths and hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage. There were accounts of their jets deliberately strafing skyscrapers, killing people inside the buildings and on the streets below when huge shards of shattered glass rained down. Later, when people were working as slaves, the Decepticons allegedly amused themselves by snatching up those who were unable to work quickly, and hurled them full force against brick walls. True, eventually the Autobots returned and chased the Decepticons away, but that did not bring the dead people back to life.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles to the east of the White House, in southern France, a bored guard stared at a bank of security monitors in front of him, while struggling to stay awake. Guarding one of Europe's largest nuclear reactors was a dull, but vital business. Posted on the wall was a poster with every member of the Decepticon army, including photos of each member in their robot and alternate modes. Every major power facility in Europe, and around the world had similar posters. Many of these power stations had already felt the Decepticon's wrath. So far, this particular station in France had gone untouched. That was about to change.

An alarm at the station suddenly sounded. The automated security cameras locked on to three airborne intruders, approaching fast. The suddenly terrified guard recognized three F-15 fighters. One was siver with red trim, one was nearly solid blue, and one was black with purple trim. Looking at the wall chart, the guard quickly recognized Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp. The trio slowed as they neared the facility. One of the cockpits flew open, and a small blue and white cassette player flew out, transforming into a large robot. The three jets transformed to robot mode nearby. Soundwave then opened his chest compartment, and five cassette warriors flew out. The guard recognized Lazerbeak, Buzzsaw, Rumble, Frenzy and Ravage. What had been three jets now presented a force of nine Decepticons, and this was only a fraction of the Decepticon army. The guard was joined by his comrades, who hastily shoved a laser rifle into his trembling hands, and pushed him toward the door. Although these new rifles were far more powerful than any bullet firing rifle, the guards still could not stifle their fear as they emerged from the buildings and fired at the towering robots. Their shots bounced off harmlessly. Starscream glanced at the guards with annoyance, and issued a command to Rumble and Frenzy, who levelled their weapons at the guards and fired. Decepticon lasers ripped through human flesh, and what little protective armor the guards had managed to grab on the way out. Soon, over 200 guards were little more than charred, smoldering flesh. Starscream paid no attention. He ordered Lazerbeak and Buzzsaw to take off, patrol the area by air, and notify him if any Autobots were detected. Meanwhile, Soundwave was producing empty energon cubes at the rate of 20 per minute.

Starscream ordered Thundercracker and Skywarp to begin filling the cubes. Rumble, Frenzy and Ravage spread out, probing for more security forces to kill. They did not have long to wait. From disguised storage sheds, 35 of France's finest new battle tanks emerged, upfitted with weaponry from the Autobots. The main cannons fired extremely powerful plasma rounds, rather than conventional explosives. One nearly struck Starscream, causing him to duck. Enraged, he bellowed "annihilate the humans and their toys!" This is precisely what proceeded to happen. One by one, the tanks were incinerated. While they had the firepower to cause the Decepticons some worry, they were still as slow and clumsy as any other tank. They were certainly no match for swift, agile robot warriors. Concealed in the shadows, Ravage fired both missiles from his hips, and blasted a tank apart. Starscream transformed to jet mode, accelerated straight up into the air, then dove on the tank formation, weapons blazing. The tanks never had a chance of even seeing him, let alone firing accurately. The tank force had gone from 35 to 9 in less than five minutes. Incredibly, however, one of the tanks got in a lucky shot. Frenzy was congratulating Rumble on destroying a tank, when another tank used this distraction. The main plasma cannon on the tank fired and hit Frenzy directly in the face plate, vaporizing his head. Frenzy's headless body fell and thrashed silently on the ground. This was to be the tanker's one and only victory. Soundwave, enraged by the loss of one of his cassette warriors, charged the tanks. Some were destroyed by his cannon, and the final two tanks he crushed with his own fists.

When the short battle ended, Starscream heard his communicator beeping. It was Megatron, checking up on him and demanding an update. Starscream informed Megatron that the facility was secure, they had already filled 500 energon cubes, and were preparing to fill more. Then Starscream came to the bad news. "I regret to inform you, Megatron, that one of the Earth vehicles managed to fire a plasma cannon and hit Frenzy in the head before the tank itself was destroyed. Frenzy did not survive." Megatron whirled to face the security camera. "WHAT?! The flesh creatures destroyed a Decepticon warrior? I put you in charge of one mission, and you allow this to happen? FOOL!" Starscream then attempted to defend himself. "Don't blame me, Megatron; I was busy destroying other tanks at the moment. I can't be everywhere-" "SILENCE!" Megatron was in no mood to listen to Starscream's sniveling. "When you are in charge of a mission, Starscream, you accept responsibility for ALL of it, and believe me, you and I will discuss this in detail upon your return. But for now, we must make the flesh creatures pay a very heavy price for destroying one of our warriors. I want you to continue filling energon cubes until you have one thousand, then I want you to initiate a meltdown at this plant." Sarcasm crept into Megatron's voice. "I assume with your brilliant scientific background, you can handle that?" Starscream reacted with outrage. "Don't question my capabilities, Megatron! If it's a meltdown you want, you shall have it!" Megatron roared "Then do it!" and ended the communication.

In less than an hour, Thundercracker and Skywarp took off, with 1,000 energon cubes on a floating cargo platform, sent from Decepticon headquarters. The two jets maintained a wary watch over the platform, as did Lazerbeak and Buzzsaw. The problem with the cargo barge was its slow speed; it would take nearly an hour to reach the French coast, where Megatron would then deploy a submersible cargo transport to whisk the cubes to their undersea headquarters. Starscream, Soundwave and Ravage stayed behind. Starscream located the building with the main control room that contained the computerized system that kept a careful watch over the nuclear power plant, keeping everything under control. Starscream and Soundwave then blasted that building to rubble. Soundwave turned to Starscream. "Estimating nuclear meltdown in precisely thirty minutes. Reversal now impossible." Soundwave then gathered up Frenzy's still, gray body and took off into the air, following the energon platform. Starscream looked down, then called out to Soundwave, "You forgot Ravage, fool!" Soundwave either didn't hear or didn't care. Starscream sighed. "Ravage, transform." He then picked up the Ravage cassette and secured it in his cockpit as he transformed to jet mode. He then took off and followed his comrades.

As Starscream accelerated into the sky, he detected six aircraft coming toward him. The speed of the aircraft meant that they could not be piloted by humans. In a moment, he was able to see for himself. Their weapons blazing, five Aerialbots, accompanied by Skyfire, rocketed by him, then banked into a wide arc as they turned around to pursue. However, as soon as the enemy had passed him, Starscream poured all of his available energy into his afterburners and had opened a wide gap. He had no interest in engaging six Autobots alone, particularly when he remembered the Aerialbots could merge into a giant. As for the Autobots, they were itching to follow and run down Starscream, but they knew the shattered power plant was in the beginning stages of a meltdown. They reluctantly turned again and proceeded to the power plant.

As Skyfire landed, he lowered his ramp, allowing Wheeljack, Ratchet and Perceptor to sprint down the ramp towards the plant. The eerie sounds of air raid sirens filled the air. This sound, combined with news that had already started to spread, triggered panic in the local population. Perceptor was able to determine that due to the loss of regulation of cooling, some containment breaches had already occurred. Hydrogen explosions appeared imminent, and the core itself was in extreme danger. If nothing was done, fires and explosions near the core would grow out of control. Once the core melted, the resulting radioactive fallout could rapidly spread over thousands of square miles, endangering millions of lives. Most of the personnel and equipment that was relied upon to manage an accident lay dead and smashed by Decepticon weapons fire. In other words, this meltdown was a runaway train.

Hundreds of miles to the west, Starscream finally caught up to the energon cargo platform, just as it was nearing the coast. Right on schedule, the submersible cargo transport erupted up from the waves. Thundercracker and Skywarp carefully maneuvered the platform inside. Not a single energon cube had been damaged. The other Decepticons entered,and the transport retreated back beneath the waves. Soon, as the transport docked with Decepticon headquarters, there was reserved celebration among the Decepticons. They had gotten away with a huge amount of energon, but their celebration was subdued by the fact that they could no longer rely on that particular power source, and by the death of Frenzy. Megatron had calmed somewhat from the passage of time since learning of Frenzy's death.

Starscream entered the control room warily, half expecting a fusion cannon blast to the chest. "Welcome back, Starscream!" Megatron's voice was heavy with harsh sarcasm. "What a pity ALL of the warriors you left with didn't make it back safe and sound, as you did!" Starscream attempted to downplay Frenzy's death. "It was unfortunate, Megatron, but let's be honest; it's not like we just lost Devastator. Frenzy was rarely deployed, and…" Megatron cut him off. "That's not the point, fool! A Decepticon warrior has been killed, and by a human! Word of this is going to get out and spread. It sets a rather bad precedent, wouldn't you agree?" Starscream silently nodded as Megatron turned his back and slowly paced the control room, deep in thought. "We must make an example, one that the flesh creatures won't soon forget. One that can be in their feeble minds the next time they think of firing on a Decepticon." Megatron hit a button on the control panel. "Astrotrain! I want you and Thrust and Dirge to report to me. I have a special assignment for you."

At Autobot headquarters, Optimus Prime was speaking to Ratchet on the communication screen. "How bad is it, Ratchet?" Ratchet's worried expression spoke volumes. "It couldn't _be_ much worse, Prime. We're looking at a major meltdown here. There's got to be some way to get a lot of water into this facility. That would at least slow down this meltdown, and reduce its severity." Prime looked at a beeping panel on Teletran One. "I've just received word that Omega Supreme is transporting Inferno, Red Alert, and the Protectobots to your location. They should be there momentarily. When they get there, you must find a way to cool that facility. Aerialbots, I want you to assist with the evacuation of as many humans as possible. Let's save as many lives as we can, Autobots."

As Omega Supreme landed near the disaster area, a hatch opened and out raced the Protectobots, Red Alert, and Inferno. After a brief conference, Inferno, Hot Spot and Blades began spraying coolant into the reactor. This amounted to dropping a few buckets of water into a raging house fire, but it was a start. What they needed was water, and lots of it. The Aerialbots merged into Superion, and joined Omega Supreme in quickly fashioning a large metal scoop from metal building panels that had been collapsed during the attack. They then flew to a nearby lake and filled the scoop with hundreds of thousands of gallons of water, and probably a few fish as well. They then soared back to the plant to release the water. By this time, hundreds of French fire trucks had arrived, as well as members of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Autobots from that point on let the human emergency personnel take over dealing with the situation at the power plant, and refocused their efforts at assisting with the evacuation of as many people as possible.

Back at Decepticon headquarters, the familiar Decepticon docking tower poked out of the ocean, releasing Astrotrain, Thrust and Dirge. They immediately sped toward land, headed for the nearest city. Astrotrain landed, remaining in shuttle mode, while Thrust and Dirge transformed to robot mode. They began snatching random people, literally right off the street, and dropped them into Astrotrain's cargo bay. When they had twenty human prisoners, the cargo bay doors slammed shut, somewhat muffling the prisoner's screams of terror. Thrust and Dirge transformed to jet mode, and they all returned to base. When they were back inside their headquarters, Astrotrain dumped his load of prisoners on the metal floor, and an energon cage appeared around them. Megatron walked up to them. "Silence your screaming, fleshlings! If you stay still, keep quiet, and do exactly as you are told, you just might make it out of here alive! Rumble, Ravage, keep watch over them. If one of them tries to flee, kill them all! We can always get more." Megatron turned to Soundwave, who signalled that all was ready. On the Decepticon's huge viewscreen appeared the puzzled face of a news anchor, who wondered why the leader of the Decepticons had requested to communicate with him directly. "Greetings, fleshling! Are you recording this?" The dumbfounded news anchor could only nod. None of this was in a script. "Excellent! Then keep your mouth shut and listen. As you may be aware, we Decepticons have lost one of our warriors in action to a human operating a tank. As partial retribution, we caused a meltdown in a power plant. But I want to make sure you miserable flesh creatures fully understand what it means to defy the Decepticons." Megatron nodded to Rumble, who deactivated the energon cage that surrounded the cowering human prisoners. With one swift motion, Megatron raised his black fusion cannon, and with a single blast, twenty humans were reduced to charred bits of smoldering flesh and broken bones. Fragments of blood, organs and brains were splattered on the wall behind where the humans had been standing. Megatron turned to face the stunned news anchor again. "Let this be a warning to you germs! From now on, when a Decepticon force arrives to take the energy we need, any resistance will result in human deaths by the thousands! If another Decepticon warrior is killed by you humans, I will destroy an entire city along with ALL of its inhabitants! You filthy creatures have had the only warning I intend to give. Remember it well." Megatron then abruptly ended the communication.

In Autobot headquarters, Optimus Prime turned from the viewscreen, consumed with a mixture of grief and rage. Grief for the humans that had died, and rage against the Decepticons. The news channel had not broadcast the gory portion of Megatron's threat, but had allowed the Autobots to receive an unedited copy of the original footage. After a moment, Prime spoke to Ironhide. "What are the latest casualty figures from the French power plant?" Ironhide reluctantly answered. "We're looking at 15,000 fatalities minimum, with another 50,000 extremely sickened, and those are the ones we know about." Prime felt his rage increase. "So, Megatron claims another 15,000 humans in his quest for power, and we couldn't stop it." He locked his gaze on Ironhide. "We have to end this, Ironhide. Once and for all." Prime continued, "This war has been going on for millions of years, and what do we have to show for it? Cybertron is nearly dead, and Earth is suffering ever growing casualties, and the Decepticons are no closer to being defeated now than they were millions of years ago. Something has to change." Ironhide attempted to put a good spin on things, for the benefit of his leader. "Aww come on Optimus, if we hadn't intervened, There would have been ten times as many dead in France, easily." Prime immediately countered, "And if we had defeated the Decepticons back on Cybertron, this war would never have spread to Earth, and no one would have died as a result." Brawn decided to speak up: "There's only one way to end this war, Prime, and that's to snuff out the Decepticons once and for all, not just give them a pounding. I'm no fan of humans, but looking at their wars, a lot of times they have the right idea. If you are going to fight a war, you make it a war of attrition until the enemy is not capable of resisting. Quickest way to end it." Prime gazed at Brawn, then at the floor, and murmured to himself, "I just wish we could make the Decepticons see reason."

Back at Washington, D.C, the president had been watching the same unaltered news footage as the Autobots had seen, along with various generals and admirals. When the broadcast had ended, they next reviewed photos from the shattered French power plant, along with casualty figures. The death count had risen to 23,000. The president allowed his audience time to absorb the data; to really let it sink in. Then the president spoke. "Well, gentlemen..and ladies..(in deference to the female senior officers present) if any of you had any doubts as to whether or not our plan to end this war is necessary, I hope this has silenced those doubts. This was the result of just one Decepticon raid. How many times now have they attempted to enslave humanity, or even destroy our planet, in order to gain energy?" The president then went into detail for the next hour about the plan in place to end the war between the robots.

The docking tower of Decepticon headquarters erupted up from the water, the door opened, and Megatron soared out, followed by the Constructicons, Soundwave, Ramjet, and the Insecticons. There had been reports of a new type of superstrong metallic alloy, and Megatron intended to put it to the test, to see if it was even worth the trouble to steal. Megatron and his raiding party flew due North.

Upon landing at the Atlantic Research Institute near Boston, the Decepticons caused most of the human staff to flee in panic. Megatron grabbed a fleeing staff member and raised her up nearly face to face. "Where is the metallic compound, flesh creature? Tell me now and I will allow you to live!" The panicked lady pointed toward a low building in the center of the compound. Megatron looked at Soundwave, who scanned the building. "Affirmative, Megatron; the compound is inside, 20 levels underground." Megatron carelessly tossed the lady to the side and started toward the building. He did not notice that she landed on her head and broke her neck, nor would he have cared if he had noticed. Megatron was just in the process of aiming his fusion cannon at the building's roof, when there was a low rumble. Megatron turned to look at the main entrance, just in time to see a familiar red semi truck with a grey trailer crash through the gate, followed by a colorful array of 15 cars and vans. None of these vehicles had drivers. The Autobots transformed, led by Prime, who rushed at Megatron in a rage. Prime's opening blow sent Megatron tumbling back over 100 feet. Prime then drew his rifle and aimed. Megatron leaped into the sky, dodging fire from Prime and the other Autobots. Megatron roared at the Constructicons to merge. Within 20 seconds, Devastator stood before the Autobots, their fire having absolutely no effect on his body. Megatron transformed to his gun mode, and Soundwave caught him. As Devastator lumbered toward the Autobots, Soundwave provided deadly harassing fire, keeping the Autobots off balance. He also ejected all of his cassette warriors, who together with Ramjet, strafed the Autobots from above. Devastator reached the Autobot formation, reached back, and with a mighty blow, scattered the Autobots and sent them reeling and running. Bluestreak was not able to escape Devastator's blow, and was almost entirely crushed. As three other Autobots provided a distraction, Ratchet hurriedly pulled Bluestreak back, in time to watch the life escape from his eyes. Bluestreak's body slowly turned to a dark, lifeless grey. Devastator actually laughed. "One Autobot down… permanently." Prime was considering how to counter this threat, when a shadow blocked out the sun. Everyone looked up and saw the giant form of Omega Supreme, flying straight toward Devastator's head. Devastator just managed to move out of the way, narrowly avoiding taking the full impact. He could move surprisingly quickly, if properly motivated. Omega and Devastator grappled and hammered at each other, as the other Autobots and Decepticons scrambled out of their way. Megatron transformed back to robot mode, and Prime was on him in a second. Their struggle mirrored the grappling of the giants a short distance away. Prime eventually gained the upper hand, pounding Megatron to his knees. Prime had rage in his core as he cursed Megatron. "I wanted to save you, Megatron, but you leave me no choice! Death and destruction follow you wherever you go, so now you and your army must be destroyed. You have destroyed Cybertron; I won't let you destroy this planet too. It ends here!" While Prime had been talking, Megatron diverted some of his power to the secondary cannon on his back. Now he shifted his position just enough to blast Prime with it. This blast was not powerful enough to destroy Prime, but it did knock him back and disorient him. Megatron then stood and blasted fuel storage drums behind Omega Supreme. Again, the explosion was not enough to destroy his enemy, just knock him down and disorient him, but this gave Devastator an invaluable few seconds respite from the battle. At a signal, all of the Decepticons took to the air and retreated. It satisfied Megatron greatly to hear the fuel drums exploding in a chain reaction. The entire facility was in jeopardy. That would keep those accursed Autobots from following him. This wishful thinking was shattered by a fusion blast as thick as Megatron's entire body that narrowly missed him from behind. Glancing back, Megatron saw that Omega Supreme had transformed into rocket mode and was following them, blasting at them from the cannon mounted in the nose of the rocket. None of the Decepticons could fly fast enough to outrun that rocket, so they did the next best thing. Devastator broke up into six Constructicons, and all of the Decepticons scattered in different directions. Omega chose to follow Megatron. As he did so, the other Decepticons came up behind Omega, firing away. Their combined firepower was enough to knock Omega off course and cause him to crash into a forest. By the time Omega had transformed and recovered, the Decepticons were long gone.

Back at the White House, the president was discussing their plan with several generals, when he received news of this latest raid. "You see, in the last hour alone, yet another battle. Several people killed, and an entire research facility destroyed. Tens of millions of dollars in damage, and yet the Decepticons escaped without casualties. A typical battle, unfortunately. The Autobots did appear and drive the Decepticons away, but they lost one of their own warriors, and this war is no closer to being won. The Decepticons will now merely regroup and dream up their next scheme. Now, this plan of ours will put an end to their war once and for all."

The leaders of the world had long ago recognized this, and they had passed a United Nations resolution (top secret, of course) to end this war. The brightest minds of the world's military forces had devised a plan, then left it to the leaders of the world to decide where it would be implemented. There had been a blind, unbiased process to select a nation, and the United States had been chosen. Next, the United States had to select a city in which to carry out this operation, and selected a moderate size city in the rainy, green Pacific Northwest. Preparations were well underway. The plan depended entirely on being able to attract the attention of the Decepticons, without raising their suspicions. Therefore, the decision had been made to construct a new, massive nuclear power plant in the Northwest. This plan was quickly and quietly railroaded into operation, and in fact, dirt had already been broken before the local population had any idea what was happening. Now, the Pacific Northwest has a long history of near-fanatical opposition to nuclear power, and many of the citizens were outraged. Strangely enough, there had been no voting on this issue, it just started. Construction was already under way. There were naturally some lividly outraged protesters, who were quite surprised to find themselves forcibly whisked away from the construction site, no matter how indignantly they screeched about their constitutional rights. Construction continued. Lawsuits from various environmental groups were swiftly struck down, never making it inside a courtroom. These same environmental groups found their websites shut down, their rallies and meetings broken up, and their most vocal members seemed to have a habit of disappearing in the middle of the night. These Northwesterners who spent their lives speaking against 'big brother' over lattes and microbrews suddenly found themselves under the real full weight of big brother, and it smothered their efforts at opposition to the new power plant. The rest of the population either didn't care, or were swayed by the massive influx of new jobs and economic growth that the plant's construction brought. Opposition died, and the plant took shape.

Fourteen months after construction began, the final tests of the power plant were being completed. Once begun, construction had never stopped. Three shifts of eight hours each worked around the clock, rain or shine, and now the plant was nearly complete. This plant was scheduled to go online and begin testing in one week. The local media dutifully reported this. The power plant would have the highest power production of any facility in North America. Deep under the sea, in Decepticon headquarters, Megatron took note of this fact. "Magnificent! Look at the power output projections of this facility!" Starscream was somewhat less enthusiastic. "That seems like a very large facility for such a small city, don't you think, almighty Megatron?" This drew a sneer from Megatron. "If it pleases you to be concerned with how many flesh creatures infest a particular city, Starscream, I'll leave that pleasurable diversion to you. I shall concern myself and the other Decepticons with harvesting energy!" Several Decepticons who were gathered around chuckled at Starscream, who stormed out of the command room. He entered his personal quarters, fuming to himself, and pulled up the information profile on the Pacific Northwest. His suspicions were correct. A relatively lightly populated area, one that certainly had no need of the mammoth power plant that had just been built outside its borders. Starscream delved deeper into the profile. Politically liberal, with a strong opposition to urban growth… therefore making it even more unlikely that this size of a power plant was necessary. Fanatical opposition to nuclear power? Starscream shook his head. Humans were such fools. Still, if this area was so opposed to nuclear power, how did one explain this rather large new power plant? This bothersome suspicion planted itself in Starscream's mind. It would take more facts to solve this puzzle, but there were no more to be found in the Decepticon database.

At the White House, the president had just been briefed on the status of the power plant. One of the generals spoke up. "Using Autobot technology, we have detected Decepticon spy satellites watching the new facility for the past five days. We have their attention." The president nodded. "So, we just need to get the thing online and producing energy before they lose interest. Work on it."

Fifteen days later, the media reported that the new power plant had passed all final tests, and was being phased into production. In a matter of days, the entire area would be drawing power from the new plant. Megatron took note of this news, exclaiming to his warriors, "The time for our attack draws near!" Starscream dared to speak up again. "This new power plant is the largest on this continent; surely the humans and Autobots have conspired to protect it. Or hadn't you considered that, mighty leader?" To Starscream's surprise, Megatron merely laughed. "Perhaps if you hadn't been hiding in your quarters, studying the humans of the Northwest, you would know of my plan! I'm quite certain the humans have defenses at this power plant. That is why we are going to attack in force! We will arrive in such numbers that any attack by the Autobots will fail, and as for the human defenses, we can always use some more target practice. And just for extra security, I am commanding Trypticon to join us. His presence alone will make the Autobots rethink attacking us. And, I have one last surprise, but you'll have to wait until the attack to find that out. Now, your role in this attack, my dear Starscream, is to lead the seeker jets in a high level surveillance of the area while we are harvesting energy." This did not please Starscream one bit. "You're placing my jets and I on guard patrol?!" Megatron caught Starscream by the throat. "They are MY jets, Starscream, and if you don't do as I say, you will be their spare parts! Do I make myself clear?" Without waiting for an answer, Megatron shoved Starscream to the floor. "This mission will give us enough power to not only return to Cybertron, but to build generators needed on the planet. It is the first step in reviving the planet for good, and you will NOT interfere!"

Seven days later, the tests were finally complete, and the power plant came online. The power output began without a hitch. Now, the president anxiously awaited news of Decepticon activity. He did not have long to wait. His phone in the Oval Office rang, and the president received the news that he had long awaited: The Decepticon army was on the move, headed straight for the Pacific Northwest. The president's voice strained as he issued orders. "Finally, here we go. Implement stage one immediately. Distract the Autobots. They must NOT learn about this operation. Report back to me when this is complete."

At Autobot headquarters, Teletran One's screens suddenly became completely obstructed with snowy electronic feedback. Optimus Prime and Wheeljack looked with surprise at the useless displays. They were trying to figure out what was causing this disruption when Prowl rushed over to them. "Prime, we have a voice emergency call from the President of the United States. He says the Decepticons are using a device to disrupt all air and radio signals, and that they are staging a massive assault on a power plant in Virginia." Prime was puzzled. "How did this signal come in, if all of the airwaves are jammed?" "We have an old landline telephone here in the headquarters. It was part of an experiment that Spike and Sparkplug were running, and they kept it operational for worst-case scenarios." Prime was not convinced. "This is very peculiar. Prowl, send out a sky spy satellite and see if we can verify any of this." Prowl launched the satellite, as more Autobots gathered around Teletran One, hoping to discover the cause in the interference that had afflicted their entire headquarters. As soon as the satellite launched into the air, the signal became weaker and weaker. Within two minutes, the satellite had been destroyed by an unknown assailant. This made Prime uneasy. "We should be able to get a clear signal with that satellite on the other side of the Earth, yet we lost communication moments after it was launched, and then it was conveniently destroyed. Someone is trying to keep us blind and helpless. Any guesses as to who?" All of the gathered Autobots murmured among themselves: Megatron. Prowl asked, "Do you think there really is an attack on this plant in Virginia?" Prime answered, "It is an odd move, to attack a place within easy reach of our headquarters, and one that is in a densely populated area, but we've got to check it out, and since we are blind for the time being, there's only one way to do it." Prime turned to Ironhide, and asked how many Autobots were out on patrol. "Only Cosmos, Powerglide and Skyfire; everyone else is here." "Very well. We'll keep them out there for now; hopefully we'll clear the airwaves soon. Wheeljack, Ratchet and Perceptor, you stay here and try to get Teletran working again. I'll leave the Protectobots to watch your back in case any Decepticons are waiting for us to leave."

In the White House, a general hung up the phone and reported to the president. "The Autobots are blind in their headquarters, and are now moving out to Virginia. The Decepticons have nearly reached the Pacific Northwest." The president nodded, then asked, "Won't the Autobots be able to communicate once they leave their headquarters?" The general shook his head. "Only with each other. Teletran is their global eyes and ears, and without that computer, they can't see what's really going on around the world. They'll be able to talk to each other, but their headquarters cannot communicate." The president's phone rang again. He listened, then hung up. "A huge Decepticon army has just arrived at the Northwest power plant."

At the brand new Northwest power plant, alarms had been wailing for several minutes. The nervous guards readied their weapons and climbed behind their defenses, yet when they looked to the sky and saw the approaching invaders, they knew they were already dead. Not merely a few Decepticons approached, but nearly the entire army. At the head of this huge army was Megatron, followed by Starscream and the seeker jets, Soundwave, the triple changers, the Stunticons, Combaticons, Constructicons, Trypticon, and even the entire swarm of Insecticons. Megatron, his face twisted with rage, roared "Annihilate the worthless humans!" He then proceeded to lead by example, firing a blast from his fusion cannon onto a tank surrounded by soldiers. The tank and the soldiers were blown apart before they could get a shot off. The other soldiers opened fire on the Decepticons, each determined to take at least one Decepticon with him into death. Once again, despite upgrades, their handheld weapons proved totally inadequate against the Decepticons. The only weapon present that the Decepticons were forced to respect in the least were the tanks and cannons that the guards commanded. Several Insecticon clones were destroyed by this heavier firepower, which meant nothing to Megatron. It was actually the main reason that Megatron had brought the Insecticons along; they were to be cannon fodder. Let the humans have their few lucky shots on worthless Insecticon clones. Bombshell could alway make more. The humans would soon all be dead, and the true Decepticons would be left unscathed to do battle with the Autobots, if they were foolish enough to interfere. For several moments, the air was filled with the sounds of laser fire, plasma blasts, fusion cannon blasts, explosions, and the screams of dying humans. Soon, there were only a few soldiers left, but they continued to desperately fire their rifles, even though they knew full well it was useless, because there was nothing else they could do. They had no means of escape, and none of them wanted to die without resisting. This earned them no respect from their Decepticon executioners. Astrotrain picked up a guard. "Hey Blitzwing! Think fast!" Astrotrain threw the guard high into the air, as Blitzwing transformed to tank mode. His barrel tracked the falling figure, fired, and what was left of the guard exploded as if it were a water balloon filled with chunky soup exploding in mid-air. Several Decepticons laughed and congratulated Blitzwing. Megatron allowed the Decepticons to have their fun with the humans; he must allow them some perks. As his warriors tossed humans into the air for target practice, he gathered the Constructicons around him and set them to work on the special project that they had carried to the site: a prefabricated space bridge to Cybertron. This was certainly not a full scale space bridge, but it was large enough to transport several Decepticons or several hundred energon cubes at one time to Cybertron. The Constructicons had practiced rapidly setting it up, and thus had the bridge operational in mere minutes. Soundwave had long since started producing empty energon cubes, which some Decepticons had already started to fill. Megatron impatiently looked around. "Have you finished with the flesh creatures yet? There's work to be done, and quickly!" Ramjet rapidly gunned down the last few remaining guards where they stood. "That's the last of them, Megatron. What about the engineers inside the buildings?" "Leave them for now! I am far more concerned with filling cubes and getting them to Cybertron before the Autobots arrive. We'll deal with the cowardly humans in the buildings later." Megatron then ordered the Constructicons, Stunticons, and Combaticons to merge. "Devastator, Bruticus, Menasor, I want you to watch the area closely. If any of the Autobots show themselves, especially Omega Supreme, tear them apart!" Megatron turned to Soundwave. "Dispatch Lazerbeak and Buzzsaw, have them patrol by air. Watch the roads. Destroy any vehicle that gets within five miles of this facility, whether it is an Autobot or not!" The rest of the Decepticons all went to work filling energon cubes.

Optimus Prime and the Autobots rolled up to the main gate of the power plant in Virginia, that had supposedly been overrun by Decepticons. It was completely peaceful. Prime transformed to robot mode and walked to the main gate. The guards were surprised, but not alarmed. Immediately, the commander on duty, who had seen the Autobots approaching, rolled up in his staff Humvee and assured Prime that it had been quiet there all day. No signs of trouble. This was something that Prime found very troubling.

The president was losing patience. "So where are the Autobots? At the Virginia plant? Already? Damn… they're going to be even more suspicious now. What about the Decepticons? Are they all in range?" The president paused and listened to his phone. "WHAT?! They brought a space bridge with them? Why didn't someone tell me they could do that? All right, keep watching them closely, I'll be back." He slammed the phone down. The president glared at his generals. "They've set up this damned space bridge, and now Decepticons are popping in and out of our solar system like gophers in their holes. And the Autobots know they've been had, and it won't take them long to figure this out. We have to act, and soon." The president activated a monitor that went directly to the engineers trapped in the Northwest power plant. Unknown to the Decepticons, there was a hidden chamber below the plant, surrounded by a hundred foot thick reinforced and shielded concrete. The president gave an order to the engineers in that chamber to wait for his signal.

On the surface at the Northwest power plant, Starscream's suspicions were growing by the minute. Despite constant raids by the Decepticons over the years, resistance at this power plant had been no more formidable than at any other plant. If there was any grudging respect that Starscream allowed humans, it was their ability to adapt, yet there had been no adaptation here. It made no sense. And, he was more convinced than ever that the size of this massive power plant was entirely too large for the pitifully small Northwest city a few miles away. This plant on one quarter capacity was more than enough to power the entire city. Starscream could not contain himself any longer. "Megatron, have you noticed the size of this facility in relation to the size of THAT city? Doesn't that strike you as odd?" Megatron had run out of patience. He whirled, fired a blast at Starscream's feet, forcing him to launch into the air. "Get out of my sight, coward! Join Lazerbeak and Buzzsaw on guard patrol if you cannot work down here. One more word out of you, and I promise you won't live to see tomorrow!" Starscream transformed to jet mode and slowly circled the facility, keeping careful watch on the power plant below. At that moment, the space bridge activated. Skywarp and Thundercracker walked out, having just delivered a load of cubes to Cybertron. Megatron glared at them. "How many is that?" Thundercracker answered, "Ten thousand cubes delivered, Megatron. Shockwave is very pleased. The planet will show life again!" Megatron was not in a celebratory mood. "Bah! That is a mere fraction of what we are going to suck out of this facility." As he spoke, the ground shook as Trypticon lumbered by, dwarfing even Devastator, Bruticus and Menasor. Megatron allowed himself a chuckle. "I'm actually disappointed. I so wanted Prime and the Autobots to try to interfere." High above, Starscream muttered to himself, "Yes, where _are_ the Autobots? They never fail to appear at just the wrong moment."

The president gazed intently at the live satellite feed that was trained on the Northwest power plant. An Army captain was staring at a roster of the known Decepticon army on Earth, and said "We confirm 92% are in the area now, including Megatron." The president nodded, and spoke into the phone pressed against his head. "Do it."

With this order, the engineers inside the power plant activated a special device that was hidden inside. Power output from this device increased dramatically. As the device was raised up out of its protective concrete cocoon, the Insecticons were drawn to its energy like moths to a light in the darkness. Soundwave also detected the energy. "Attention Megatron, new power source detected. From inside the facility." At that moment, the Insecticons swarmed on the roof of the building, blindly searching for the new power source.

Coasting through the sky above the facility, Starscream had detected the new power source as well, and for some reason he could not explain, he was overcome with panic. He could not rationally explain why, but he needed to get away from this area. There were too many unknowns, too many unresolved suspicions that his scientific mind could not resolve, and he just had to get away. He switched on his afterburners and began to streak away from the facility. He was almost quick enough. Almost, but not quite.

The thermonuclear bomb concealed inside the facility detonated perfectly. There had been some concern that the Decepticons might damage the facility in the battle to gain control of it, and that the weapon would not be able to be raised out of its concrete cocoon. This is why the president ordered that only light defenses be used at this facility, so that heavy weaponry would not be needed. This plan worked. The bomb rose up precisely as planned out of its cocoon, until only normal building structure surrounded it. This was a new bomb, developed specifically for this operation. Previously, the most powerful such device had been a Soviet monster of a bomb known as the Tsar, which had a yield of approximately 50 megatons. This new bomb had a yield of over 100 megatons, which is roughly 8,000 times more powerful than the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. In a mere millisecond, all of the Insecticons simply vanished, as did Megatron, Soundwave, the triple changers, Devastator, Bruticus, and Menasor. They were not only blown apart, they were completely and utterly vaporized into sub-atomic nothingness. The seeker jets that were spread farther out on patrol had perhaps a full second to experience the emotions of shock and terror before they, too, were vaporized. Lazerbeak and Buzzsaw dissolved in mid-air, their scattered atoms becoming part of the rising, monstrous mushroom cloud that was looming up over the Pacific Northwest skyline. Trypticon's massive bulk took perhaps half a millisecond longer to be broken down to the sub-atomic level.

Starscream instantly knew what this device was. The human's nuclear weapons had been the only weapon that the humans possessed that the Decepticons genuinely feared, and truthfully, it was the only reason that the Decepticons had not made wiping out humanity one of their goals on Earth. Fearing that if backed into a corner, facing the annihilation of the human race, the nuclear weapons would be used against them, Megatron had reluctantly taken wiping out humanity off the table when they had re-awakened on Earth. Killing those humans that got directly in the way of the Decepticons was fine, but the Decepticons had thought that the humans would not sacrifice one of their own populated areas in order to use one of their nuclear weapons. Besides, the Autobots had always occupied most of Megatron's attention, not humans and their weapons. Now, the Decepticons were paying the price for their misjudgement. Starscream thought for a split second that he might actually escape the blast, but his head start was not quite enough. Caught in the shock of the explosion, he was tossed around like a toy in a tornado, completely out of control, but not vaporized because he was in the shock waves past the outer edge of the explosion, not in the actual explosion itself. He was slammed into solid rock at a speed of approximately 1,500 miles per hour. The furious wind whipped over his shattered wreckage.

The people of the nearby city had just enough time to look with stunned amazement at the mushroom cloud rising up between the city and the nearby mountain. Those who happened to be looking that way when the initial flash of detonation took place already had their eyes burned out in their skulls, and were blind, which prevented them from seeing the skin and flesh bubbling off of their bones. Not that they had to suffer for long. A wall of nuclear hellfire raced toward the city, effortlessly jumping the two rivers that ran through the city, through the residential suburbs and into the west side business district. The fire then banked up the West Hills, and actually had the effect of raining back down on the business district once again. The few moderately sized glass towers that were in the city erupted in flames, along with virtually everything else in the fire's path. Cars, people, buildings, bridges, trucks, buses, boats and trains were all consumed in flames in a matter of seconds.

Ratchet and Wheeljack finally deduced there was nothing wrong with Teletran One, and went outside their headquarters to scan the surrounding area. Soon, the Protectobots found a high tech scrambler hidden in the rocks outside their headquarters. Actually, there were dozens of them. When these scramblers were destroyed, Wheeljack immediately received a distress signal from Teletran One. As the Autobots rushed back inside, they were stunned by the image of a nuclear mushroom cloud in the process of destroying a city in the Northwest corner of the United States. Instinctively, Wheeljack reached for the computer panel to contact Optimus Prime.

Miles above the Earth, barely within the atmosphere, Cosmos was keeping watch over the North American continent. His sensors detected the piercing flash in the Pacific Northwest, and he descended into the atmosphere for a better look. His sensors detected what kind of event this was, and he knew to keep a respectful distance. He received a transmission from a stunned Skyfire, who rendezvoused with Cosmos and joined him in scanning the ugly, roiling mushroom cloud.

The Autobots had reached their headquarters by now, and were watching the images on Teletran's screen, surveying the smoldering wreckage of what had, only an hour before, been a vibrant, living city. All were stunned to silence, as Teletran estimated the human casualties. The figure was over one million dead. Prime failed to see why even the Decepticons would want to do this. Their main motivation had always been to steal energy and conquer, not exterminate. At that moment, Teletran received a call from the United States government. The president's face appeared on the Autobot's screen, and he explained what had occurred to Prime and his warriors. When he was done, Prime thought he knew what it was like when humans felt physically sick to their stomachs. The plan that had been carried out was so contrary to Prime's programming that he was having difficulty processing it. To deliberately sacrifice over a million lives who had no say in the matter… even if it meant eliminating the Decepticons, Prime thought the price was far too high. The president repeated his justifications to Prime: the entire Earth was doomed with the Decepticons on it, hundreds of thousands had died already with the war no closer to being won, and this plan had been agreed upon by **all** the world's leaders. Prime felt anger welling up inside of him; anger because he could see the logic of the president's argument, and as much as this plan disgusted him, a tiny part of him agreed with the president, and was even celebrating the victory over Megatron and most of the Decepticons. Despite the loss of over a million lives. The president then shook Prime out of his contemplation, stating that the United States military was preparing to scour the blast area for Decepticon survivors, and requested the Autobot's assistance. Prime glared at the screen and nearly shouted. "What about human survivors? Will you bother to look for them too?" The president calmly nodded. "Of course. Part of this operation from the beginning was to immediately offer overwhelming medical assistance as soon as we are able to enter the blast zone. Our soldiers have received training for nuclear affected environments, and are suiting up now to enter-" Prime slammed his fist down on the control panel, ending the communication. He could not stand to listen any longer. The coldness, the calculated sacrifice of so many humans, deliberately exchanged for military victory over the Decepticons, was more than he could comprehend. Especially when he pondered that if the Autobots had defeated the Decepticons back on Cybertron millions of years ago, every single human that had lost their life since the Decepticons first awoke on Earth would still be alive. Did this mean that some of the responsibility for today's tragedy rested on him?

Five Humvees with soldiers rolled around the area where satellites had detected a Decepticon jet crash-landing at the peak of the explosion. Their mobility severely restricted by the NBC (Nuclear, Biological and Chemical) gear, the soldiers simultaneously blessed and cursed their uncomfortable, bulky equipment. The gas mask, in particular, caused the soldiers to sweat and fog up the eyes of the mask. Still, it was far preferable to the fate that the citizens of the doomed city had just suffered. Soon, they found their target. A silver Decepticon jet, or what little was left of it, lay smashed on the rocky ground. To the soldier's surprise, they were greeted with maniacal laughter. Starscream had managed to transform what was left of his body to robot mode. He was determined not to die in the form of an Earth jet. All that was left of him was his head and the upper one third of his torso. His right arm was barely a stump, and the rest of him was completely gone, either smashed beyond repair on the rocks, or carried away by the devastating wind, drawn back into the nuclear explosion, and incinerated. Now, Starscream greeted the soldiers. "AAAHAHAHAHAA… welcome, humans! Do you realize what you've done? AHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, it's beautiful! It's perfect! It's priceless! How fitting! The almighty Megatron, scourge of Cybertron and the entire galaxy for millions of years, unquestioned leader of all Decepticons, destroyer of countless races on hundreds of worlds, he who murdered billions with his own hands, destroyed by humans and their primitive weapons! AHAHAHAHA! Thank you!" The soldiers glanced at each other. Starscream's laugh was that of a mad scientist. The fool was obviously out of his mind with shock. Soon, the maniacal laughter turned to panicked cries as Starscream saw his own wreckage in the rocks, and the truth of the situation began to sink in. He was going to die. Nothing could save him. There was not enough left of him to save. Once the energon that happened to be in his torso was expended, he would die. Except, he would not even have that long. Starscream saw the soldiers retrieving something from their vehicles. It was a plasma cannon, one that was powerful enough to harm a Decepticon, and he was completely defenseless. "No! I beg you, humans, let me die on my own, or… find an Autobot, ANY Autobot, to finish me off! I must not be vanquished by you humans as Megatron was. Let me at least have the dignity of being destroyed by an Autobot!" The soldiers realized that they were vermin to him, and he wanted to preserve his reputation in death as having fallen to and Autobot, and not to a human. They were not prepared to accommodate his request, so they readied their weapon.

High above, Skyfire was scanning the surface. He spotted the wreckage, recognized Starscream, and descended to the surface. He transformed to robot mode and landed near Starscream. The soldiers, who were just about to fire, recognized the Autobot and waited as Skyfire walked up to them. Starscream reacted with tremendous relief. "Skyfire! Thank Cybertron! If you were ever my friend, Skyfire, please, I beg you, grant me one last wish. Let it be _**you**_ who finishes me, and not these humans! I am beyond repair, but let it at least be said that Starscream was finished by a powerful Autobot, and not by these flesh creatures! PLEASE!" Skyfire surveyed Starscream's shattered remains. His power core was gone. There was no saving him. There was not enough of him left to save. Not only could he not recharge, but Starscream's head was shattered, barely holding together. If they were in Ratchet's repair bay, right now, there was a one in a million chance that Ratchet might be able to save Starscream. To attempt to rush him to Autobot headquarters was pointless, because even if Starscream held together when Skyfire picked him up, he would run out of power long before they reached headquarters. Skyfire made his decision. He looked at the soldiers. "This Decepticon and I were friends once, when dinosaurs roamed your world. Let me grant his one last wish. Stand back, I'll handle this." The soldiers nodded and backed off as Skyfire drew his massive black rifle out of his storage compartment in his back. As Skyfire aimed his rifle, Starscream used the last of his energon. "Thank you... Skyfire…" His eyes were just starting to fade from red to dark when Skyfire's blast put an end to his suffering.

The President received the latest report from the Pacific Northwest. The mopping up of Decepticons was complete; every one that had entered the area was dead. Now came the next phase of humanity's attack on the Decepticons. The President called on his secure telephone to Naval Command. "Admiral, the ground campaign has been successfully completed. Initiate the Naval campaign. Good luck."

Inside the Decepticon's undersea headquarters, the few Decepticons that had remained were in a panic, trying to re-establish communication with Megatron, or any of the attack party. Megatron had left minimal staff behind; the Reflector triplets, Dirge, Thrust, and Ratbat. They were left with orders to watch over headquarters, aided by the heavy automated defense system, and the armed security drones inside. Thrust and Reflector desperately continued to try to reach the Decepticon army, but the only response they got was from Shockwave on Cybertron, who was equally panicked. He had been in direct communication with Megatron, and had been receiving shipments of energon cubes over the space bridge, when everything had abruptly halted. Now it was impossible to communicate with anyone from the raiding party. Since Shockwave outranked Thrust, Dirge and Reflector, he ordered them to place Decepticon headquarters on full alert. Shockwave then proceeded to do the same to Cybertron's planetary defense system.

The American Navy had quietly gathered attack submarines from Navies around the world over several months, one at a time so as not to arouse Decepticon suspicions, and now had a fleet of over three hundred attack submarines from every nation on Earth that possessed a Navy. Taking a cue from the history of submarine warfare, it had been decided to use these submarines in wolf pack fashion, except on a much larger scale. Instead of ambushing passing convoys, these groups of submarines would be simultaneously attacking Decepticon headquarters. The attack groups would attack from all angles, in three waves, one immediately following the other, launching over three thousand torpedoes within a time of fifteen minutes. Before the last submarine strike was even completed, a fleet of fifty Naval destroyers on the surface would drop specially designed high explosive depth charges. It would be the most complicated and dangerous Naval operation in history, especially considering no practicing had been possible. It would not do to raise Decepticon suspicions before the attack ever took place. So, this incredibly complicated and dangerous attack would have to come off flawlessly on the first attempt, or people would die.

Inside Decepticon headquarters, Reflector was monitoring the security screens. In less than one minute, dozens of fish were replaced with hundreds of submarines on the screen, headed straight for the headquarters. Reflector hit the alarm button, and the outer defense cannons swiveled to aim at the submarines. Unfortunately for the Decepticons, there were far more submarines than defense cannons, and they appeared to break off their attack and bank away from headquarters before the cannons could get a lock on the submarines. Thrust was gazing intently at the screens, then understood. There was a wave of hundreds of torpedoes headed straight for him, with more submarines following behind. Thrust ordered the defense cannons to fire without a lock, which they did. The cannon fire detonated dozens of the torpedoes before they were close enough to do any damage. Vibrations from the nearby explosions were felt throughout the headquarters. Less than a minute later, the rest of the torpedoes from the first wave slammed into the headquarter's metal hull, destroying many of the defense cannons. This meant that more torpedoes from the second wave of submarines made it to the metal hull. Hundreds of explosions savagely rocked the sunken Decepticon headquarters. There were multiple hull breaches, with cold ocean water gushing in and flooding many compartments. The automated repair drones were overwhelmed; at least, those that had not already been destroyed. Amazingly, the security screens still worked, and Thrust could see the third and final wave of submarines firing their torpedoes. Thrust ran out of the security room, and nearly collided with Dirge, or what was left of Dirge. A massive explosion had erupted in the passageway, melting Dirge into the bulkhead. Dirge had been trying to get into the security room, but died in the attempt. Thrust kept running down the passageway, followed closely by Reflector and Ratbat. At that moment, the third wave of torpedoes hit, and Decepticon headquarters crumbled and collapsed. Only Thrust made it out of the wreckage, and as he started to rise to the surface, he saw hundreds of depth charges falling down onto what was left of Decepticon headquarters. Looking up, Thrust saw the silhouettes of dozens of surface ships, no doubt heavily armed and itching to open fire on any surfacing Decepticons. As depth charge explosions erupted far beneath him, Thrust managed to swim toward a submerged formation of rocks and conceal himself from the lingering submarines. All of the commotion in the water from the depth charge explosions masked his escape. Thrust did not know it at that time, but he was the last living Decepticon on the planet Earth.

The president received the latest report from his Navy. Decepticon headquarters was completely destroyed, with no survivors seen escaping, but 100% verification of this was impossible due to the underwater location of the target. For this phase of the operation, assistance from the Autobots would be required. Only they were capable of properly entering the underwater combat zone and conducting a thorough reconnaissance. The president instructed one of his generals to communicate with the Autobots to arrange this. He hoped they would be more receptive to a military man, despite their obvious outrage at the loss of an entire city. The general appeared on the screen of Teletran One and informed the Autobots of what had happened since their last communication. "So you see, Autobots, we have successfully destroyed the Decepticon's underwater headquarters, but we need you to go down there and verify that we got them all. You can easily withstand the depth and pressure that threatens our submarines." Optimus Prime was still fuming over what had transpired in the Pacific Northwest, but he realized this was the last gasp of the Decepticon presence on Earth, and he must at least honor those humans that had lost their lives by seeing that no Decepticons survived this operation. Prime ordered Seaspray, Beachcomber, Mirage, and the Aerialbots to proceed to Decepticon headquarters. Just as they were leaving, Skyfire arrived, and told the gathered Autobots of what he had seen, what was left of the doomed city, and also the details of Starscream's final moments.

Thrust had remained in his rocky underwater hiding place for several hours, praying that the prolonged exposure to salt water would not begin to damage him. He still had plenty of energon in his power core; he was merely waiting for the right opportunity to escape into the air. For all he knew, the humans had enlisted help from the Autobots, and would pounce on him as soon as his nose cone emerged from the water. He listened carefully. The sound of explosions from headquarters beneath him had ended long ago. The sound of engines in the water, which indicated ships and submarines, had been growing quieter and quieter. It appeared there was much less movement in the area, which suggested either the vessels had moved away, or were lying in wait to see if any survivors popped out of the water.

It was the latter. As the Autobots approached from the air, they saw a large fleet of military ships spread out over a vast area, obviously watching to see if any surviving Decepticons would emerge from the water. Seaspray, Beachcomber and Mirage jumped off the backs of the Aerialbots they had been riding, and landed in the water. Three Aerialbots transformed to robot mode and joined them in the water, leaving the other two to patrol from the air. As they descended into the depths, the shattered wreckage of Decepticon headquarters came into view. The five Autobots carefully entered the remains of the structure, long enough to visually verify the remains of the Decepticons who had not made it out, and to confirm beyond all doubt that they were dead. Conferring with Optimus Prime, it was evident that only Thrust was unaccounted for. As the Autobots started to rise back up to the surface, something caught the attention of Mirage. He had seen something out of the corner of his eye. He motioned to his comrades, and they all moved toward a certain rocky formation.

Thrust saw them approaching, and cursed himself for moving as the Autobots were passing. Motion always attracts the eye. He had no choice now; he had to make a break for it and take his chances. Thrust blasted away from the rocky formation as quickly as he could. Fire from the pursuing Autobots ripped past him in the water. He broke the surface, started to rocket into the air as he transformed to jet mode, and was promptly nailed by a powerful stun beam. It paralyzed him, and he slapped back down onto the water. Slingshot congratulated himself on his shooting. The Autobots in the water popped up, surrounding Thrust, who was conscious, but paralyzed. The fact that he was surrounded by Autobots is all that prevented the human's naval ships from blasting Thrust into scrap. Their weapons were trained on him, but they dared not fire while the Autobots surrounded him. Silverbolt transformed to robot mode, landed on the deck of the Admiral's ship, and reported to him. "The Decepticon's headquarters is completely destroyed. No one survived inside. Even all of the drones are destroyed. This Decepticon here is the last one on this planet, and we are taking him to our headquarters. We will deal with him there." Before the Admiral could reply, Silverbolt jumped off the deck and transformed to jet mode in mid-air, taking care not to harm the Naval vessels.

Soon, back at Autobot headquarters, the Autobot force arrived with their prisoner. Thrust knew by now that he was the last surviving Decepticon on Earth, and the hopelessness and despair he felt at this situation took away any resolve he might have had to fight back or try to escape. He meekly allowed himself to be marched down the corridor and shoved into a chair, where energon bonds appeared around his hands and feet, binding him in place. He looked up and saw all of the Autobots staring at him, then he looked at the floor again. Ironhide and Ratchet removed the laser cannons from his arms. He felt a large presence move close to him. Optimus Prime towered over his prisoner, who managed not to flinch. "So, it's all come down to you, hasn't it, Thrust. You're the last Decepticon on Earth." Prime's deep voice sent surges of fear through Thrust, but he still did not reply. Prime continued. "The humans are demanding to see your dead body." Thrust looked at Prime, but did not speak. Prime switched tactics, and lowered his voice. "Thrust, this was not an Autobot plan. The humans did this of their own accord. All of your comrades died in their pursuit of power and energy, let us help you survive. Join us! Join the Autobots. We can work to undo Megatron's programming. We can save you if you let us." Thrust glared at Prime. "I would rather die as a defeated Decepticon a thousand times than turn into one of you spineless Autobots, with weakling humans as your friends! You admit that this was not an Autobot plan; of course it wasn't! You Autobots could never plan anything as bold and decisive as this, which is why our war left Cybertron, isn't it? You could have defeated us, many times, but you are too weak to kill, and killing is the only way to truly win a war! So, in a way, these stupid, weak flesh creatures are stronger than you! And you want me to join you? Never!" Prime straightened, turned, and walked away. He was overwhelmed with frustration, because he had failed to convert Thrust, because now he had to kill Thrust, and because Thrust was right in what he said. If Prime had possessed the strength to kill the Decepticons on Cybertron, that planet would still be alive, and millions of humans on Earth would not have lost their lives.

At that moment, another unprecedented event occurred. Shockwave contacted Autobot headquarters from Cybertron. The means to communicate had always been there, both sides knew how to contact the other, but until now, they had never done so, other than Megatron hatching one of his schemes. This was an entirely different matter. Prowl pushed a button, and Shockwave's face filled the screen. "Autobots, I demand to know what has happened on Earth… Thrust, why are you there in Autobot headquarters?" Ironhide spoke up. "He's here because Decepticon headquarters is destroyed, and every Decepticon along with it. Thrust here is the last living Decepticon on this planet." Thrust looked at the viewscreen and spoke. "It is true, Shockwave; all the others are dead. I am the last one alive on this planet. But do not be fooled, for the end for us came not from an Autobot plan, but-" At that moment, Slingshot's stun gun immobilized Thrust, silencing him. The Autobots had already decided not to let the remaining Decepticons on Cybertron learn that the defeat of their army had been caused by humans. There were other Decepticons scattered throughout the galaxy, and Optimus Prime did not want them coming to Earth, seeking revenge on the human population. Therefore, the Autobots had to take the credit, or blame, for the slaughter of the Decepticon army. Prime looked at the screen and spoke. "Shockwave, what you are about to witness is the end of the Autobot-Decepticon war on Earth. Then, finally, you're next." Prime drew his rifle and aimed it at Thrust's head, but was unable to fire. He was simply not an executioner. From the back of the room, a large figure strode forward. "You, Prime, want him, Thrust dead, but cannot pull trigger? Me Grimlock will handle this." Grimlock transformed to his dinosaur mode and blasted Thrust with fire from his mouth, starting from the head and moving down to his feet. Thrust literally melted in his chair, then there was nothing more than a heap of melted metal. Without a word, Shockwave ended the communication.

In Washington, D.C., the President of the United States finished his address to the people of the world, which had been broadcast live. He explained the planning of the Northwest operation, the preparation, and the execution of the trap. He assured the people of the Earth that the Decepticons had all been destroyed, and he fully accepted all responsibility for the lives lost and promised to accept whatever judgement was reached by an American court. As he stepped down from the podium, he walked up to the Marine guards and held out his hands. They hesitated. The president nodded and quietly said, "Go ahead and do your job, son. It's all right." The Marines clicked a pair of handcuffs around the president's wrists and led him away to a waiting armored car. He was soon joined by the generals and admirals this massive and deadly operation. An entire city with all of its inhabitants had been deliberately sacrificed, in exchange for ridding Earth of the Decepticon army. Across the United States and around the world, the debate raged as people chose sides and watched the trial in progress. The president justified the operation by declaring that setting a trap in an isolated location was too obvious; the Decepticons would never fall for that, no matter how tantalizing the bait was. Holding this operation near a populated area successfully fooled the Decepticons, who had believed that humans would never sacrifice a city to be rid of the Decepticons. When asked why they didn't drop an underwater nuclear weapon on Decepticon headquarters, the president explained that this would make visual confirmation of how many Decepticons were actually there impossible. They had no eyes and ears inside Decepticon headquarters. Besides, these headquarters were very close to several coastal towns, and major shipping lanes, so there still would have been many human casualties.

Fortunately for humanity, once Shockwave realized that all of his comrades on Earth were indeed dead, he ceased monitoring Earth broadcasts, and poured all of his attention and efforts into boosting the defenses of Cybertron. Therefore, he never learned that the Decepticons were destroyed by human actions, not by the hands of the Autobots. Shockwave's obsession with defending the planet turned out to be wise. The Autobots saw their opportunity and created a fleet of invasion ships, and launched an assault on Cybertron. The planet was defended by Shockwave, and thousands of battle drones and automated defense systems. While these seemed formidable, they cannot think and react as a living being can. They can easily be outsmarted and destroyed. And so, Cybertron fell to the Autobots, and Shockwave was destroyed in combat by Optimus Prime. After millions of years, the war against the Decepticons was finally over. The Autobots knew that Cybertron was still largely a dead hulk drifting through space, so they developed an ingenious plan to move the planet to our solar system, much as the Decepticons had once done. This time, however, the planet was placed into orbit a safe distance from Earth, just beyond the orbit of Mars. This way the Autobots could remain on their planet and slowly repair and rehabilitate their home, but still be within easy reach of Earth if any of the Decepticons scattered throughout the galaxy decided to pick up where Megatron left off. Our solar system is full of resources, just the place to nurse Cybertron back to life. There was even an exchange program of sorts where the brightest human minds on Earth travelled to Cybertron and, working in exo-suits, assisted the Autobots in repairing the planet. This jump-started humanity's development and helped them take their first steps into the rest of the galaxy. It also went a long way to ending petty national conflicts, as all humanity realized that invading robots do not care about nationality, and that all humans must be in this together to keep Earth safe from any future invaders.

On Earth, the Autobots assisted with cleaning up the radiation damage and fallout in the Northwest area, and the Federal government completely rebuilt the destroyed city. Everywhere in the new city are memorials to the people who had been sacrificed, and the single largest museum in the world dedicated to the Autobot-Decepticon war on Earth was opened here. It educates visitors about the conflict on Earth; all of the many battles, the loss, the destruction, and all of the deaths that resulted. All of the Decepticon's schemes are described in detail.

**AFTERWORD**

If you think this version was long, the original was ten pages longer! I revised it and cut out quite a bit of political back-and-forth. Just a couple of points..

This is NOT a commentary on any actual president of the United States. I actually started this story years ago, before President Trump was elected, then I got sidetracked with other stuff, and just recently decided to finish this story. It's not meant to be pro-Trump or anti-Trump at all. It's just a story.

I decided not to name the city that was destroyed. You can probably figure out which city it is, and in the original draft I named the city, but it just felt wrong. I decided not to. The name of the city isn't really the point of the story, anyway.

I also deliberately didn't say what happened with the trial of the President. I want to see what you, the reader, think. Is he a war criminal? Even if he eliminated a deadly threat to the entire planet, and also, the entire U.N. had agreed on this course of action? Does the end result justify the means?

I hope you liked the story! Please leave your comments.


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